Silent Words
by Lost In The Lies
Summary: She approached him. All he ever did was shrug. So why did it always mean so much more - why, years later, are those words she said all he can think of? Written for HPFC 'Sell me a Story Challenge'.


**Written for SomethingWithMittens HPFC 'Sell me a Story Challenge'**

**Pairing: **Draco/Luna

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"You're uncomfortable."

Draco jumped a mile as he heard the voice in his ear and turned around to see Luna Lovegood had sat down beside him. His eyes darted up to his parents who sat on his other side before going back to the Ravenclaw. He couldn't help but wonder why the blond had chosen the seat beside him and his parents out of the millions of others available – everybody else had been avoiding them since the defeat of You-Know-Who mere hours before.

"You feel like you don't belong here, with the celebrations," The odd girl continued in that same whisper so nobody but he could hear, even though his parents were sending her glances.

Draco was about to retaliate, sneer at her and tell her to go trouble someone else, but he stopped himself. He was in no position to do so, for all he knew Auror's could be coming in to take him to Azkaban any second, no one in his family even had a wand – he knew when to give in. Instead he slumped forward, his eyes fluttering shut in defeat as he shrugged.

Draco's eyes snapped open in surprise as he felt Luna's hand on his arm, and he turned to look at her, grey eyes meeting pale blue.

"You played a part in the defeat too – don't forget that. You belong here just as much as anybody else, it just took you a little longer to see the way to go, and by then you had no choice," Luna said in the same whisper, a knowing look in her eyes. Draco just looked at her confused. He watched as her eyes landed on something past him and her hand slipped off his arm. She gave him a serene smile before getting up and floating away.

Draco watched her walk (but she was floating, and it just didn't make any sense) away. He was startled as he felt his mother's hand grasp his arm and he let her pull him up, looking around to see the Auror's he was expecting.

Draco was put on house arrest for two years with his mom while both were stripped of their magic. His dad, however, was placed in Azkaban.

When Draco was finally free to wander the streets again, he couldn't help but find himself thinking about those words Luna Lovegood had spoken to him that day. He barely noticed the looks that were sent his way, most people believing he deserved much more for the actions he'd done. No, he was thinking of that one girl who had said differently on that day, who had cared to take notice of others worries on a day she should have felt joy.

Draco didn't pay attention to the weeks it had been since he had been let off of house arrest, all he knew was that he never wanted to go back to his house – never wanted to see the inside of Malfoy Manor again where the Dark Lord had once sat. He found himself wandering farther and farther away from Britain, in both muggle and wizarding areas, all in muggle fashion, with nothing but a large bag of money that he'd transferred to muggle. The farther he went the fewer glares he attracted, and all the time his mind was on the odd blond who he had barely even known to begin with.

One day – he didn't know how long it had been since he had left his house – he found himself sitting in a pub in Finland, not sure when he got there.

"It's strange, running into somebody you know in a foreign country, don't you think?"

Draco jumped as a large cup – he believed they called them tanks or something of the sort – was set before him and none other than Luna Lovegood sat across from him, sucking at a straw. He blinked a few times, making sure he wasn't just imagining her and the girl he'd been thinking of was actually there. Finally he said "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I decided I'd come searching for Crumple-Horned Snorkack's here – me and daddy saw a few in the north-eastern area of Sweden when we went hunting a few years ago, so it seems they like Finland better. I have spotted quite a few, but they always get away before I can take a picture or catch one." Luna shook her head, taking another sip as Draco just starred. "You know, it's rather good, you should try it," She added nodding at the drink she'd given to him.

Not quite sure why he was listening to her he grabbed the drink and took a sip. He was surprised to find that it was rather good – amazing even – though he couldn't quite name the taste.

"No," Luna went on, and Draco quickly looked back at her, giving up his attempt to figure out what exactly the taste to the drink was. "I think the real question is why are _you_ here?"

Draco stared at her (he found himself doing that a lot, though he couldn't figure out why for the life of him) as he once again tried to take apart the fuzzy images of how he'd ended up in that pub. In the end he just shrugged as he stared into her eyes, waiting for her to answer the question for him as she always seemed to do.

"You always seem to shrug, don't you?" Luna said tilting her head to the side as her already high eyebrows were raised.

A smile flickered across his face as he said "Yeah, I guess I do."

(It wasn't until later that he was surprised to realize those were the first words he'd ever said to her.)

(The Britain wizarding world was even more surprised when they came back married two years later.)

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**OK, so this is the first time I've ever really written Cannon characters...how'd I do?**

**-Ley**


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